BA announced return of non stop 3 class 777 from San Diego to LHR starting June 1 next year. Interesting, this flight was previously dropped because there was not enough business in 1st class, turning flight into a money loser. This is 3rd attempt at BA servicing KSAN.
I think they think it will do better with Anti Trust Immunity with AA.
However, AA will provide pretty much no feed in SAN - the only thing that they will benefit from is a little more loyalty from the AAdvantage members in the area. However, UA and WN are much stronger in SAN than AA.
Third time’s the charm? I certainly hope so. Always liked seeing them here.
First time, they ran DC-10/30 (or B742, depending on the day), nonstop from Gatwick, but stopping at LAX on the way back. Rumor has it that this first attempt averaged about 50 pax per flight.
Second time, it was a B744 which stopped at PHX to and from Gatwick. A short time later, they changed it to 777’s nonstop to/from LGW, and did the same with another 777 on the PHX run. Later, they switched over to LHR. (The PHX/LHR still runs today on a B744.)
Right now, if you want to travel to Europe from San Diego, you catch a domestic flight to whatever major hub, then go from there… or go by RJ or E120, car/van, train/cab…to LAX. Time consuming. BA needs to do a better job of convincing people that they don’t need the extra hassle of getting to LAX… By the time they get on the 747 there, they could be coasting out by Newfoundland on a plane from their own airport. There are ~3 million in the area here. We need more international service, other than a small handful of Canada/Mexico flights.
I think the main disadvantage for SAN is the fact that it isn’t a hub for any airline really… Maybe they can get some people out of Mexico. Hey, if Aeromexico flew Asia nonstops from Tijuana with a lot of San Diegans, why not turn it around?
“Inaugurating non-stop flights between San Diego and London is one of the first tangible benefits of the joint business operation with American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia, and we are pleased to be returning to this beautiful city,” said Kevin Burns, British Airways Regional Director, Western USA and Western Canada.
I’ve been on the LHR to PHX flight twice in the last 4 years while coming home during the summer. Full, full even on July 4th. It did seem like a lot of people like me were connecting on AWE or SWA. As you say, that may be the trouble with SAN, where are you going to connect to?
I’m sure they have checked the zip codes on where their LAX and PHX passengers are coming from, interesting they are waiting a year though.
The next thing the West coast needs is AWE from PHX to Europe (except LHR).
Yeah John…Lufthansa used to run A340’s to PHX, but stopped some time ago. Star Alliance probably runs all those pax thru CLT or something now.
As far as Britons connecting to another flight at SAN… yeah pretty much nothing…Maybe they would fly somewhere up the coast. Also, it would be another option to get to Hawaii. Hawaiian has been here ever since they first got the B763, and now Alaska has just started SAN-OGG. It is a 5 minute walk from Customs to virtually any other airline’s check-in counter.